Replies to post #68056 on Discover GOP Opprobrium

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The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been one of the leading conservative opponents of climate change legislation, operating on the assumption that a looming environmental catastrophe isn't nearly as important as the short-term profit margins of some of its members.

It's a position that some Chamber of Commerce affiliates are no longer willing to accept.

Exelon, one of the country's largest utilities, said Monday that it would quit the United States Chamber of Commerce because of that group's stance on climate change. It was the latest in a string of companies to do so, perhaps a harbinger of how intense the fight over global warming legislation could become.

"The carbon-based free lunch is over," said John W. Rowe, Exelon's chief executive. "Breakthroughs on climate change and improving our society's energy efficiency are within reach."

A wave of departures from the chamber has been building for weeks. It was heralded Monday by some Congressional Democrats and environmentalists as a sign that the business community's opposition to global warming legislation is weakening. In their view, that improves the chances that a global warming bill that narrowly passed the House in June might also pass the Senate.



Last week, Pacific Gas and Electric and PNM Resources also quit the Chamber over the group's efforts to derail energy reform, but Exelon is an even bigger prize. "There will be significant vibrations from this," Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) said. "It's a bit of an earthquake."

One of the driving factors in the shift away from the Chamber is a recent announcement that the group wants a "Scopes monkey trial of the 21st century" about the science of climate change. The remarks made clear that the Chamber of Commerce, even now, simply doesn't accept the scientific evidence.

It's important to note that Exelon, which sold many of its coal-fired plants in 2000, is the nation's biggest operator of nuclear power plants. It's hardly unreasonable to suspect the company's position on climate change legislation is motivated, at least in part, by business considerations.

But Exelon's move is nevertheless welcome, and comes at a fortuitous time for supporters of cap-and-trade legislation -- Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) intend to introduce a Senate version of the already-passed Waxman/Markey bill today.

A global climate crisis will invariably be bad for business. The more the business community acknowledges this fact, the more likely meaningful reform will pass.

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And I here I thought former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey (R), whose propensity for misinformation is practically limitless, couldn't possibly appear any less credible. I stand corrected.

McCaughey, of course, has been a leading conservative opponent of health care reform in 2009, frequently straying from the truth (and reality) to trash Democratic proposals. She's also known for playing a similarly destructive role in 1994, when McCaughey positioned herself as "a scrupulous, impartial, independent scholar who, after leafing through the endless pages of the Clinton health proposals, had been shocked by what she found."

What we don't know until very recently is that McCaughey, when she wrote her infamous 1994 New Republic article that contributed to reform's defeat, she was working in secret with corporate interests who were lobbying against the Clinton plan.

Writing for Rolling Stone, Tim Dickinson reports on documents obtained from a Philip Morris lobbyist

[W]hat has not been reported until now is that McCaughey's writing was influenced by Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, as part of a secret campaign to scuttle Clinton's health care reform. (The measure would have been funded by a huge increase in tobacco taxes.) In an internal company memo from March 1994, the tobacco giant detailed its strategy to derail Hillarycare through an alliance with conservative think tanks, front groups and media outlets. Integral to the company's strategy, the memo observed, was an effort to "work on the development of favorable pieces" with "friendly contacts in the media." The memo, prepared by a Philip Morris executive, mentions only one author by name:

"Worked off-the-record with Manhattan and writer Betsy McCaughey as part of the input to the three-part expose in The New Republic on what the Clinton plan means to you. The first part detailed specifics of the plan."



Media Matters added, "This latest disclosure, combined with a previously exposed conflict of interest, should destroy any remaining credibility she has with the media as an expert in health care reform acting in the public interest."

Indeed, it should. But will it? How soon until a major media outlet once again turns to McCaughey for "analysis" of health care policy?

Kevin Drum recently noted, "McCaughey is pure poison. She cares about nothing except making sure that no healthcare reform of any kind is ever adopted in the United States, and in that cause she's willing to say or do anything."